1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to lights used to illuminate an emergency scene and more specifically to a hand-held and portable lighting device that can be used as an emergency beacon, for example. Still more specifically, this invention relates to a hand-held, portable, emergency and safety lighting device that employs a rare gas illumination glass tube along with a fluorescent coating inside said tube to enhance the brilliance of the light produced therefrom. Even more specifically, this invention relates to a hand-held and portable emergency lighting device which can employ multiple power supplies to provide the power therefor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are a host of prior art elements used to provide portable and hand-held lighting for emergency uses. Some of these are simply incandescent light sources similar to the conventional flashlight and which may contain a semi-transparent housing which gives off a safety color or glow (e.g. red). Most of these prior art elements do not produce sufficient light to pierce the darkness of the night, especially in areas where there is some semblance of fog present.
There are a host of other safety lighting devices also known in the prior art. Some of these employ incandescent illumination sources, some employ high intensity flashers, such as strobes and the like, and still others employ some sort of rare gas containing light source. Most of these prior art elements are designed to be placed or fixed near where some emergency is taking place such as road work and the like. None of these are particularly designed to be hand-held and portable and none of these have a multiplicity of power sources associated therewith. Additionally, few of these prior art lighting devices are rugged enough to withstand continued use under difficulty circumstances.
The rare gases known in the prior art and used as a lighting source include neon, helium, argon, krypton, xenon and small amounts of mercury mixed with argon. The gases are usually placed within a glass tube along with a pair of electrodes, one electrode at each end of the glass tube. These rare gases, when exposed to or charged electrically, will produce a high intensity light. In order to produce the desired color of light, the tube may be first coated with a fluorescent coating to enhance the natural color which emanates from the rare gas. Then, the tube is filled with the rare gas of choice taken care to eliminate all other foreign elements within the tube. The tube is heated to convert the rare gas to a vapor and drive off the impurities. The heat drives off the impurities and the glass tube is vacuumed to remove the vapors. Once the tube has been freed of all impurities, it can be filled with the desired rare gas and sealed. When an electrical current is applied to the electrodes, a brilliant light is produced. The glass tube can be bent to any desired shape and even form decorative designs and letters. The rare gas containing light is used conventionally in advertising and the like since various colors can be produced therein. It is not particularly common to use rare gas light sources within portable, hand-held lighting devices.
It is also known in the prior art to use a neon-containing tube or an aligned strip of light emitting diodes as the light source in a multi-purpose, traffic director's stick. This element is by definition and utility, however, a longitudinal light source and thus there is a limit as to how much light can be emitted thereby. Additionally, the prior art discloses only batteries as a source of power and thus there is a conditional limitation to the use of this element.